The division has around 350 salespeople that deal financial products to clients looking to hedge their bets around the world.

It's now two years into a programme to improve staff emotional intelligence to rid fear and self-interest from the institutional mindset.

The new mindset is working.

In a report by McKinsey, staff engagement was higher than the industry standard despite profit-driven bonuses being lower. Client revenue is also growing faster than the industry trend, with 80% of the growth coming from existing clients.

It all begins with training for staff to recognise their own beliefs behavioural patterns and how the combination of the two motivate what they do at work.

Empathy and the ability to recognise emotions in others, whether they're clients or coworkers, is a big part of the programme.

Here's the test they give to staff. Each panel shows an emotion and four options to pick from. How well will you do?

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"People often confuse contempt with disgust. But disgust involves the raising of the upper lip, and the bridge of the nose wrinkles. We express disgust about noxious things, not those about which we're derisive or suspicious."

Answer: Contempt

2/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"People often confuse disgust and anger. But anger tightens the mouth and lowers the eyebrows more significantly, and raises the upper eyelid. With disgust, the mouth opens and the tongue comes out, just in case you need to throw up."

Answer: Disgust

3/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"This is a coy, flirtatious smile. What conveys flirtatiousness is when someone turns his or her head away to signal 'I'm not interested in you,' but simultaneously makes eye contact. That's a universal display that reflects the ambivalence of flirtation—the flirter avoids and approaches someone at the same time."

Answer: Flirtatiousness

4/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"When we feel pain, our facial muscles move in ways that contract the face and protect us from harm. In the upper half of the face, the orbicularis oculi muscles around the eyes contract, closing the eyes tightly, and the corrugator muscle lowers our eyebrows. In the lower half of the face, our lips tighten and press upwards."

Answer: Pain

5/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"When people feel sympathy or compassion, the corrugator muscles pull the eyebrows in and up, their lips press together, and their head tilts forward slightly—a sign of social engagement."

Answer: Compassion

6/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"Genuine laughter often relaxes all muscle movements in the body because of shifts in our respiration patterns that happen when we laugh. This rapid shift to a state of relaxation shuts off feelings of aggression or frustration—we're cooperating with other people, not competing."

Answer: Amusement

7/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"Some experts believe our eyes open wide like this because when we're confronted with something surprising—a long-lost friend, an unexpected award—we try to absorb as much of this new information as possible."

Answer: Surprise

8/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"Pride involves signs of dominance. The corners of the lips rise slightly, signaling that the person is happy. But what distinguishes this from happiness is that the head tilts back, with a slight jaw-thrust. Those are classic signs of power and dominance—they suggest that we're feeling strong."

Answer: Pride

9/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"When people are embarrassed, they avert their gaze, which means they move their head down and to the side, exposing their neck. And the embarrassed smile is different from other smiles: The lips press together tightly, reflecting feelings of restraint or inhibition."

Answer: Embarrassment

10/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

"You see these muscle movements—in the lips, around the eyes, and in the brow—when people are feeling aggressive, threatened, or frustrated. Researchers think we make this expression when we're angry because it could protect the face in a physical conflict—for example, the furrowed eyebrows could protect the eyes."

Answer: Anger

11/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

This is a classic display of a genuine smile, called a Duchenne smile, which signals happiness.

Answer: Happiness

12/

Select the correct emotion this person is displaying:

ING

The facial expression of fear is often confused with surprise. But when we're surprised, our eyes open wider than when we're afraid, and our mouth isn't pulled sideways, like it is here; instead, our jaw drops and the mouth hangs open. Plus, our eyebrows are relatively flat when we're afraid; they arch more when we're surprised.

Answer: Fear

13/

How many did you guess right?

Reuters

As far as we know, ING doesn't actually score its employees on the test. It's designed to get them thinking about emotional empathy, and whether their own assumptions about others' feelings — clients' feelings, for instance — are accurate or not.

So if you didn't get many right, we sympathise. (Even if you're unable to figure that out.)